Friday, April 30, 2010

Koldo showed he's finding his way back into form following his enforced lay-off due to his ear problems. In today's second stage of the Tour de Romandie he sprinted to a good sixth place after some phenomenal team-work set him up perfectly on Peter Sagan's wheel with 400 metres to go. Koldo couldn't quite get into top gear after being exposed to the wind too early, but still did well to claim sixth ahead of riders like Wyss, Swift, Roche, Weylandt and Ciolek. As mentioned, the guys did really well to get Koldo into position for the sprint. With three kilometres left he seemed to be too far back (as usual!), but the guys displayed some nice bike-handling skills and raw power to bring him into the perfect position. Great job by the team. A thumps-up for Alan Pérez as well, who continued where he let off in LBL recently by spending another long day in the break of the day. Together with Ignatiev, Beyer and Van Winden he built up a handy lead, but it wasn't meant to be as the teams in the pack were all keen on a sprint finish. Alan showed he was strong though by, together with Ignatiev, dropping Van Winden and Beyer when it got reel steep towards the end. Good ride. Alan and Gorka Verdugo eventually ended up 1:32 down after doing more than could be expected for Koldo, while Aitor G came in together with a big group 10:53 in arrears.